Digibury March 12: art-meets-tech special!

The past couple of months, we've been working closely with the School of Computing at the University of Kent and TinkerSoc in the development of Project Conway: an innovative interactive computer game and art installation.

What's the big idea?

Actually, it's pretty simple: a player ‘creates’ a starting pattern via a special website projectconway.com (launching soon). Then, following the rules of John Conway’s Game of Life - a simulation of population growth and decay - the pattern ‘lives’.

It does this by reproducing and thriving in the form of colourful LEDs which flash on and off on a large display panel until a cell in the pattern cannot reproduce anymore and it ‘dies’. This triggers an 'obituary' that will be printed out via a small printer. All of this makes up the art installation.

So what will happen at Digibury on March 12?

After the main presentations at The Gulbenkian about the Project, we'll be holding a panel discussion with audience participation to explore the collision of art, technology and all things digital. The panel will be made up of organisations including Canterbury Arts Festival, FutureDream and Workers of Art.

The presentation

University of Kent students Michael Wilson, Richard Lancaster, Geoff Dodds and Niklas Scholz created the software for Project Conway. They integrated it with hardware - a large display to show the Game of Life simulation - built by TinkerSoc.

The School of Computing project group and TinkerSoc will demo the Alpha version of the Project, explaining its game engine, web application and the hardware built for Project Conway.

So that's the point?

The aim of the Project Conway is to prove that technology and art can come together in innovative and inclusive ways through experimentation, problem solving, collaboration, development, electronics… and play.

Join us on March 12 - 7.30pm at The Gulbenkian!

You don't need a ticket - it's free and open to all!